Ive been fascinated and enthralled and even at times obcessed with all things Aviation re: WW2. And being in the business Ive been lucky enough to have owned and flown quite a few very special aircraft. Only thru owning and operating these amazing creations, that only WAR made us need and create, do we really come to understand what they are as indivdually designed machines to do specific jobs. Sometimes the concept or the need changed between the drawing board and the runway or even the front line....having said that....this focus..the Grumman TBM which carved its own important niche in history and contributed so much to the winning of the war in the pacific. N88HP which once belonged to Howard Pardue (which is a whole novel in itself) came into my hands in the late 90s. a true WW2 Veteran that deployed on the USS Franklin but was to late to fire any shots in anger. So I learned many things about this versatile aircraft some of which flabbergasted me! Who knew that it was also configured as a straight and level BOMBER with a Norden BOMBSITE mounted in the HELLHOLE aiming thru a glass window in the aft bombay bulkhead? Yep. Connected to a Pneumatic autopilot that resided in the aft cockpit which was NOT a cockpit, though most have a seat there now and some have added semi dual controls. Interesting considering the bombay DOORS had to be open to facilitate the use of the sight. fascinating. Sadly, 88HP came to grief and burned to a crisp after a takeoff fire caused it to abort, the pilot being severely burned getting out of it.....Sad end for a tired warrior that survived everything except a careless mechanic.....75 gallons an hour was more reality then I was prepared to fund.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 04:11:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015